Chapter 2: Among Thieves

“He’s Sloppy.”

“Yet he made it work.”

“He takes too many risks.”

“Maybe we just don’t take enough?”

“I don’t know if I want a Noble on our team.”

“Maybe a Noble on our team is exactly what we're missing.”

...

“Why?”

“Because we don’t have one yet.”

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The woman returned his stare as she whispered with the long-haired man that alerted her of his presence earlier. Edgar could not see her other two accomplices, but he was certain they were in the crowd behind him and watching him very closely. The woman had deftly caught Zeyad’s coin purse and was looking inside it when Ed said “How nice to finally meet you Julia! Or do you go by Natalia these days? My name’s Edgar.”.

She took a gold piece out of the purse and flicked it towards Edgar. “Finder's fee.” she said with a deep voice and surprisingly friendly tone, before winking at him.

“Sorry I didn’t catch that. I really would like to know your name; it makes the whole getting to know someone process quite a bit easier” Ed sarcastically replied. He wasn’t going to let her control the conversation that easily.

“And here I was, trying to be all mysterious. You had to go and ruin my fun. You can call me Karpov; I promise that one’s real!”

Edgar had no idea if that name was real.

“Well, it's so nice to finally speak to you Karpov and...” Edgar looked towards the tall man standing to Karpov's right. He now understood why this guy was on scout duty. The man stood almost seven feet tall and was built like a block of marble, he had pale skin and a nasty scar that ran over his left eye. Edgar imagined it was from a fight or something brutal like that; the thought of it being from something stupid amused him however. So he imagined it was from slipping on a banana peel and left the theorizing there, Conscious not to spend too much time looking at the man's scar.

“Vladimir” he said with a horrendous Hanau accent that was clearly put on, and Edgar couldn’t even hope to hide his smile.

“I take it you’re the subterfuge expert Ms. Karpov, because your friend here needs a bit more practice”. Her mask also cracked as she smiled at Vladimir’s poor attempt, but her composure quickly returned “So what brings you both to the fine town of Hanau? Was it the beautiful scenery, the delicious cuisine, or the honest, salt-of-the-earth people here?” Edgar said with an almost too positive tone. He was determined not to be the one to break the façade of friendliness. If she wanted to take the conversation there Karpov was more than welcome to, but Edgar was fluent in doublespeak and was well prepared for a verbal cold war. Whatever she was planning, he was confident he could handle it.

“A classic opening question, it seems innocuous enough but at best you learn my intentions and at worst you find out how good of a liar I am.”

“Maybe I was genuinely curious? A band of mysterious strangers arrives in my hometown, of course I want to know all I can about them.”

“Good job feeding me a morsel of useless information about yourself Edgar. I am slightly more inclined to tell you more about myself, but for people who have done the things I have done, guilt doesn’t come that easily.”

Fuck.

She was reading everything Edgar had to say, and he was growing ever more annoyed at his questions being avoided. Ed tried to read her face but was met with taunting eyes and a hollow smile. He had to try a different angle as he clearly wasn’t going to outmanoeuvre Karpov.

“Would you please just tell me something?” Edgar didn’t really think that sounding polite and desperate was going to get him anywhere, however. “If not about your motivations I at least want to know why you’re carrying an entire arsenal of magical items to dinner?” He wanted her to let her guard down before he revealed the last piece of information in his hand. He had given up on besting Karpov and instead focused on impressing her enough to see what scraps she would give him. It was a pathetic tactic; but it was all he had left.

“I didn’t come here with a goal in mind young Edgar. Sometimes one must merely put themselves in new situations and let fate take care of the rest.”

There wasn’t much that Edgar could glean from such an ambiguous statement, and she didn’t even mention magical items, however it was a start at least. He wondered which direction to push from here, should he continue sucking up to her now or had that strategy overstayed its welcome? Flattery may work short term, especially if the to-be-flattered party isn't thinking all too much. Edgar highly doubted Karpov matched that description though. Instead, he thought on a larger scale, he was trying to impress Karpov right. Maybe if he provoked her enough to get a negative reaction now, she might eventually recognize and respect the tactic later.

He may not have consciously recognized it, but Edgar’s subconscious already knew. Tonight would not be the last he saw of Karpov and her gang.

An insult was far too bold of a provocation, especially considering how the conversation had preceded. And Karpov would notice something was up. He didn’t know what pushed Karpov’s buttons yet, so he decided to start with the easiest way to piss someone off. Underestimating them.

“You’re probably just after Power. That’s what people usually want when they’re being too shady to tell others their real goals.” Edgar jabbed. “Well, you’re probably not going to find anything here.” He said, trying his best to look as honest and unsuspecting as possible as he did so.

“And yet in a sea of darkness there exists two shining stars; illuminating the nights sky.” Her eyes flicked over Eds shoulder and as he followed them, he saw Cyrus standing where they’d conversed previously. Unsubtly watching him from above. “I’m not looking for power. Only a fool chases after power. Power corrupts people. It rots them. It consumes them until it’s the only thing they seek for. Power is infinite and if you keep searching, you’ll never find it. I have a goal young man, I do not know when it will be achieved, or in what form. But it exists. As for the means to achieve that goal, you may think that power is the answer, however if you did, you’d be a fool. The more power you have, the more people want you dead. I’m searching for potential. Undiscovered power, hidden from the world. So that when the time comes for my goal to be enacted upon. Nobody will see it coming. Nobody will be able to stop me. Nobody will even bother to try.”

At the end of her short speech Karpov looked Edgar in the eyes and he felt as if the intensity emanating from her was boring a hole in his forehead. The speech was clearly designed to leave Edgar in a state of awe, and it had most certainly worked. The sudden switch from their cagey prods to Karpov’s zeal left Edgar frozen in place as he wondered just who the woman standing in front of him really was.

Edgar took a moment to compose himself. “That’s a lot of talk for someone who spent the last half an hour stealing pennies from drunken revellers.” He tried to casually steer the conversation back to the events of the night, not wanting Karpov to know how much her rant had gotten to him. At least he knew what he saw earlier, he could not fathom what the enigmatic woman's true goals were right now. “How much potential was inside those purses you stole”

Karpov gave him a knowing smile and dropped 5 pouches of coins onto the floor. “We got what we came here for tonight.” However, she still held the one that Edgar had given her.

Karpov and Vladimir turned to leave. After walking a few paces, the woman turned around and smiled back at Edgar, who was still frozen in place. “Find us in Stargardt. We’ll be there for the next month. I think the next time we meet we’ll both find what we’re looking for. And next time bring a better gift than a half empty bag of silver.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The mysterious stranger continued to walk away, leaving Edgar to feel like he had been outwitted and outmanoeuvred.

There was absolutely zero chance he wasn’t going to visit them in Stargardt.

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“-And that’s why I'll be coming with you to Stargardt this week.” Edgar said while pacing back and forth in Cyrus’ room as he explained the events that had occurred in the night so far. “I don’t know what it is these guys are after but it's something big. They aren't just petty thieves Cy, and whatever Karpov’s planning... I want to be there to watch.”

“I don’t know. These guys seem risky, not the kind of people you want to be tangling with.”

“That’s exactly why I need to tangle with them! I can't spend my life wasting away doing nothing, I need to find something interesting to do with my life.”

“Is it worth it though? There's plenty of interesting things to do that don’t involve joining a crazy magical thief troupe.”

“Easy for you to say. Not everyone’s a magical savant, off to the state academy every year to learn arcane secrets, like you. This is my one chance to do something worth doing; and I'll be damned if I don’t take it.” Edgar said, surprising even himself with his fervour. He did not understand why he felt so strongly about finding Karpov again, but he knew he must.

Cyrus merely stood there looking slightly annoyed at having to be the voice of reason to his older brother. “Well, I’m not going to stop you, but how are you going to convince father?”

“I’ll tell him I'm going to start my own business. I’ll probably try and do that anyway, it just won't be my main goal, I've still got to pay for rent and food after all. Everything I tell him will be true; I just won't tell him about Karpov and her crew.”

“He’ll be able to tell. You can't pull the wool over that man's eyes; it’ll get caught on his eyebrows.” Cyrus delivered this Joke with an honest smile as he looked Edgar in the eye. Edgar brushed off his brother’s poor attempt at a joke. The kid might be smart, but he needed to learn a bit more in the field of comedy.

“I’ll find a way to figure it out. So, make sure to prepare for a wild ride this year”

“Oh no. No way am I getting involved in your shenanigans with these guys. No. Chance!” but Edgar had already left the room by the time Cyrus finished.

Ed walked outside of their estate as he thought about what the best way to tackle his current dilemma would be. Wrapped in a thick brown cloak to stave off the night-time chill, he proceeded into Hanau proper. He tried to clear his mind of all thoughts, letting the sights and sounds of the town at night rush into the empty void that remained.

A black cat jumped from a rooftop to Edgar’s right and rushed across the street in front of him, Ed couldn’t see what it was after, but neither did he care. He was, however, glad that he had seen the chase. Edgar had that in common with the cat, although his chase for an exciting life of adventure was slightly more abstract than hunting for dinner on a summer evening. He left the cat and its quarry and continued walking further into the city.

Edgar looked upwards after hearing an expression of pain, followed by a rather impressive string of swears, said in a hushed voice. A young boy, maybe around sixteen years old, was climbing out of a third storey window and must have scratched himself on the way down. To give him credit, other than that one slip up, he climbed down with a great pace. Edgar stopped walking to watch the show before him. After jumping off the last few feet the boy checked around him, to see if anyone had seen him. His eyes ran directly into the path of a chuckling Edgar. The boy's face showed equal parts confusion and fear at the strange young man standing outside of his house, watching him climb out.

Edgar left him to worry for a bit, taking a hint of sadistic pleasure at the boy’s clear nervousness, before he started rubbing his eyes frantically. “Aah, ah ouch! I can’t see anything because there’s something in my eyes! I sure hope I don’t miss anything interesting because I can’t see!” he exclaimed suddenly with all the subtlety of an ox at a dinner party.

Even an idiot could have read the subtext behind Edgars acting and with his face in his hands Ed smiled as he heard the footsteps of the young boy fade into the distance.

The music, warmth, and laughter radiating from a nearby inn was calling Edgar, but he couldn't enter the establishment. Entering a pub by yourself was a massive faux pas, especially as many of the patrons inside would recognize his face. Although he had been attempting to avoid every social event required of a count's son, he was unable to dodge them all, and that meant recognition by the townspeople. Recognition meant Expectation. Ed didn't want to annoy his father tonight, as he was going to make his proposal to him tomorrow. He drank in the sounds of life that he was so close to yet so far away from, the sounds of bets being won, the sounds of memories being made. Edgar stood there silently for a minute before beginning the painful journey back. He used his desire for freedom to steel his resolve and fuel his plans for the next morning.

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“I want to start my own business.” Edgar said with as much conviction as he could muster. Staring at the sceptical pair of eyes in front of him. They knew it was a lie. He turned away from his mirror and sighed, would his father believe it? It was a solid lie, interspersed with fragments of truth as the best lies always were. In addition to that, his father's desire for Edgar to bring value to the family gave him motivation to want to believe his son.

“If I wait any longer, I'll just keep overthinking and the pitch will just end up worse, right?” Ed asked to the mirror image who stood silently across from him.

Before the anxiety drove him even crazier, Edgar left the room and made a start on finding his father. It was early in the morning, so the count was probably in the gardens. Avian Sr, like his son Edgar, had a penchant for meditation, but whereas Ed liked to empty his thoughts and observe the people around him, taking in the life of the crowd. Ed’s father preferred to be amongst nature, Ed understood why, every time the man spoke to someone, he was asked for favors, for help, for mercy. With so much attention on him it must be hard for him to simply observe a social occasion. Once more, Edgar relished not being the heir.

Ed smiled as he walked into the gardens. It was a beautiful place, every plant native to the Hanau region could be found there. There were other gardens in other counties with a larger range of plants, but his parents prided themselves on being traditionalists. Even so, acres of wilderness condensed into a few small gardens was a sight to behold; Edgar took in the sights and scents of nature as he searched for his father.

Edgar peeked into the rose garden. He saw his father there. Surrounded in roses of myriad colours the man sat silently in thought, the harsh lines of his face resting in a neutral position. He sat completely still other than a few strands of grey hair that trembled in the wind, the man looked like serenity personified. Edgar didn’t wish to disturb his father, so he waited a few feet from the rose garden’s entrance and collected his thoughts. First, he would ask his father directly, once that was shut down then he would play his cards. All his other brothers had found their field, but he didn’t have one, it was time for Ed to find his niche. As well as that he wasn’t suited to court life, although he was a good talker Ed was far to devious to uphold the honourable image of a nobleman. Finally, there was the appeal to emotion, a father couldn’t keep his son cooped up in the nest his whole life. He had to be free.

After a few minutes of ruminating as he waited, Edgar walked back to the rose garden entrance to look at his father. He was met with 2 piercing blue eyes and a peaceful smile staring back at him. “I was beginning to think you’d stand there all-day Edgar! Come over here, let’s talk.”

“I didn’t want to disturb your meditation.” Edgar sheepishly replied. Feeling like he a small child again in front of his father. Edgar, like all his brothers, was taller than his father, but he still felt dwarfed by the man as he walked over to sit next to the old man.

“Nonsense, you’re my son! You can come to me anytime, in fact it’s good that you did, I needed to speak with you anyway.” Avian said, sounding mildly annoyed at his son’s reluctance to speak to him immediately. “Where were you last night? It wasn’t a big event, but you should still attend. Your brothers could have used you up there, the conversation partner they had was especially dull this time.”

“Actually, I wanted to ask about a similar thing. I don’t think I’m cut out to be an aristocrat like you or junior, I just don’t have it in me. I’ve thought for a while and decided I want to do something else. I want to start my own business, of course not immediately, I still need to learn a lot but it’s something I find a lot more interesting than what Baron Zeyad wore at the feast last night, or why the Stargardtian mage school is intimidating all our neighbours.” Edgar said, almost out of breath as he finished his plea.

“That’s great Edgar! I’ve been waiting for you to find your niche. Of course it would be nicer for me if you stayed at home, but I guess that’s too much to ask for a young man with his whole life ahead of him.”

“Wow. I was expecting to have to do a lot more convincing than that. I made a whole speech in preparation.”

“We can do that whole song and dance if you really want to Ed, but I have a county to run, and you have a business to plan.” Avian’s happy expression turned more serious “You had better take this serious Edgar. You can make what you want of your life son, my only request is that you work hard on it. Your brothers are a politician, a soldier, and a soon to be mage; I would be surprised if you didn’t want to do something different. But the one thing everyone in this family has in common is that we work hard. And if you’re not willing to do that, you’ll stay here doing nothing until you do.”

His father’s gravitas pressed down on Edgar, and he felt bad for lying to the man after that speech. He did agree with his father though. If he wasn’t willing to work harder than everyone else on his goals, he never deserved them anyway. He didn’t have a defined goal yet other than learning more about Karpov and her gang, but Ed was prepared to achieve everything he set out to do, anything else was a failure.

Edgar looked his father in the eyes and gave him an earnest nod.

The seriousness slipped off Avian’s face as he asked his son “Do you need any help setting anything up? I have a few friends in Stargardt that could teach you before you’re ready to start?”

“Thank you but I want to try it on my own, you’ve done so much for me so far. I want to see what I can do.